This one is hard.  Really hard.  In fact, this may be the single hardest thing to in business, and in many ways in life.  The concept is certainly one I struggle with every day on both a small and large scale.  It is a natural tendency to want to run from your problems.  Or, if not run from, at least ignore and hope they will go away on their own.  As we all know, problems rarely disappear on their own.  What we need to do is embrace our problems and figure out how to actually run towards them.  Taking this mindset allows us to take control back, and to start making real progress.

I heard the quote this week from Brandon Steiner on the #askgaryvee show.  Brandon Steiner is a sports marketer, speaker and author.  He told a fantastic story about a time early in his career that he bounced a check written to Yankee legend Phil Rizzuto.  “The Scooter” was rightfully pissed.  But, Brandon didn’t hide in embarrassment, instead he went on offense.  He spent the next 3 years doing nice things for Phil.  He found him business opportunities, he introduced him to others who could help him, he sent him presents.  He always went above and beyond to find ways to make up for the time he screwed up.  Cut to 1994 when Phil was inducted into the baseball hall fame and needed and agent.  Who do you think he called?  You got it, Brandon Steiner.  You can watch or listen to the episode on either of these links https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqPPuhBMMGM or https://soundcloud.com/garyvee/askgaryvee-261-brandon-steiner

Obviously, there are big problems, crises and emergencies that arise in business and in life that leave us no choice other than to confront them head on.  In some ways, these are the easy ones.  When the fire is raging, there is little choice other than to put it out.  The sneakier problems, are the ones that can be avoided if we choose.  A good example that managers encounter and often avoid is the difficult conversation.  It doesn’t really matter what the conversation needs to be about.  What matters is that it is easy to avoid this conversation because it is uncomfortable.  Whether this conversation is about the behavior of a problem employee, the performance of an average employee or the attitude of a once exemplary employee, all of these conversations are unpleasant.  No manager really wants to have these conversations, and it is far too easy to avoid them.  But, this is precisely where we need to force ourselves to run to the problem.   Handling any of these situations head on is the job of an effective manager.  In fact, the thing you find yourself avoiding is probably the thing you most need to do.

As restaurant managers, I know you have all had experience trying to win back unhappy guests.  Doing this is not always easy, and is often unpleasant.  But, I am sure you have all had experiences where you succeeded, and the guest has gone on to become a great friend and regular.  There is really not much better than when it works out like this.  At the same time, I am sure you can all recall situations where you let a server or a host deal with a situation instead of you.  You know, the dreaded, “just buy them dessert.”  We need to do our best to avoid this at all costs.

As we have talked about in other posts, own your mistakes.  We all make them.  Don’t hide from them, run towards them and do your best to make them right.  There are also going to be times where you need to disappoint someone.  Maybe you can’t deliver on something you had promised.  Maybe you can’t deliver on something you would really like to.  Either situation is best faced head on with proactive honesty.

The same dynamic plays out in all types of relationships.  It is no different in a marriage, or a family, or with kids.  Figuring out how to run towards your problems is a game changer.  Lastly, I know you have all felt that feeling of relief after you have finally done something you really didn’t want to do.  Sometimes it is hard to believe that you had agonized and stressed over something for 2 weeks or 2 months and then you just handled it in 10 minutes.  It feels good to get those problems handled.  Learn to run to them, and your stress level can plummet.  This week, try to tackle something every day that you have been avoiding.  Find the things on your to do list that you have been avoiding and do these first.   Have a needed sit down with one of your team members.  Do you owe an apology to a friend or family member?  Make the call and say you’re sorry.  This week, run to towards your problems and feel your power.  Have a great week!

If you want to lead people, you need to get people to follow you.  You need to get people to believe in  you and your mission.  You need to inspire them to believe that you have a worthwhile destination.  You need to instill trust, and to make people comfortable that you are worth following.   You need to model the type of behavior you hope to see from your followers.  Do all of these things and you will get people to follow you.

Getting people to follow you is important.  But, if you want to have the biggest impact, you need to encourage people to be leaders themselves.  In any organization, the leaders can only influence so many people on a daily basis.  That is why to have the biggest impact you need to create an army of leaders each imbued with the confidence and enthusiasm to carry out the mission of the organization.

I think creating leaders starts with making sure people know how important they are to the organization.   It is one thing for everyone to understand the goals of the organization.  It is another when everyone realizes how big a part they play in bringing these goals to life.  Every team member at every level of the organization needs to be reminded that they have valuable contributions to make to the team.  Every team member needs to be supported, encouraged and praised when they do the right things.

I also think it is important to empower your team to be leaders.  Let them know that you respect their opinions and contributions.  Let them know that you see leadership qualities in them.  Let them know that they have your confidence.  Not everyone is a natural born leader.  It is amazing how many people don’t see themselves as leaders until someone else opens that door for them, and gives them the permission to take on the role.

You will never get everyone on the team to be a leader, but this shouldn’t stop you from trying.  A truly successful organization will have many leaders in every level.  This has to be our goal.  Let’s get out there this week and inspire others to not just follow, but to be leaders themselves!  Have a great week!

This is a good reminder for all of us, life is all about change and personal growth.  The minute you throw in the towel and stop changing, what is the point?  It is so important to make sure we do things that help us evolve.  Focusing ourselves around constant growth and self-improvement is the name of the game.  We all know the expressions about people who “are stuck in their ways.”  We also know the one about “teaching old dogs new tricks.”  Neither are compliments.  The world around us will never stop changing.  To be active participants in that world, we need to embrace change, and change with it.  Instead of fearing change, we are all better served trying to seek it out.

It is also important to realize that change is something we need to work at.  We need to seek out new experiences in order to help us keep changing for the better.  If you ever find yourself thinking there is nothing else to learn, stop what you are doing immediately and get out of your routine.  I think it is very important to embrace change, and to make sure we are controlling the process.  Change is coming at us all one way or another.  Why not, seek it out and ride the wave?

Of course, this same sentiment is true for a business as well.  Mitt Romney took a lot of shit when he said at a campaign event, “corporations are people, my friend.” This comment fell flat like a lead balloon, but I understand what he was saying.  Businesses are the result of the collective effort of many people.  They go through highs and lows, just like people.  And, like people, they need to keep working to change.  Markets change, consumers change, neighborhoods change.  Businesses need to work to change and evolve with the times as well.  Just like people, businesses and organizations need to embrace change in order to thrive.

This week, go forward boldly looking for ways to keep yourself changing, improving and thriving!  Have a great week!

 

Reality is a complex concept.  In a world that never stops changing it can be hard to see the reality of any situation.  It is extremely difficult to pay respect to our personal biases while objectively trying to determine reality.  This quote by Jack Welch, legendary former CEO of General Electric, wisely points out two of the biggest obstacles to seeing reality for what it is.

First, in order to determine today or tomorrow’s reality, we need to deal with the past.  The past holds many lessons, but it doesn’t always hold the keys to assessing the reality of today.  In fact, a desire to see things as they used to be can be dangerous.  The past is a useful filter, but we need to work hard to separate the lessons of the past from the realities of today.  Often, we want things to be the way they were.  The known and easily understood is safe and comfortable.  It is important to develop the ability to see when things have changed, or are changing, so you can plot a course that will work tomorrow, not yesterday.

In business, this lesson plays out time and time again.  The buggy whip maker, Blockbuster Video, Kodak, My Space, all became cautionary tales of businesses that looked towards the past, not the future to determine their business reality.  The flip side of this is a company like Netflix.  Netflix realized from its inception that its purpose as a business was to deliver entertainment in any way possible.  This visionary acceptance of their business reality allowed them to transform from a DVD delivery company to a massive video streaming company with an award-winning production studio.  Here is a podcast episode where Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix discusses this concept: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_REno9e6gLY

The second big challenge to seeing reality is how we want things to be.  All of us have hopes, desires & perceptions that affect how we see reality.  We need to work very hard to be able to see the subtle difference between how we want a situation to be and how it actually is.  The challenge in business is to be able to look at things objectively without emotion.  You need to develop this skill in order to see reality.  Don’t get me wrong I believe wholeheartedly that we all need to play a huge part in shaping our own realities.  Taking responsibility for our part in creating our realities is massively important.  The trick is to take this responsibility while still being objective enough to see current and future reality of any situation.

Take some time this week to step back & look at things with fresh eyes.  Pay attention to some of your thoughts that are too influenced by the past, or how you want things to be.  Find some clarity that will let you plot the best course of action for any situation.  I hope you find this exercise helpful!  Have a great week!

Happy Monday!  Sorry I missed you last week, it’s nice to be back!  It’s been over a month now since the Beatles channel debuted on Sirius.  Needless to say, since then, I have listened to A LOT of Beatles.  This line is one of my favorites from the entire catalog.  The line was written by Paul McCartney, and brings closure to the Abbey Road album.  This was actually the last song ever recorded by the Beatles as a foursome.  Here is a great clip of Chris Farley interviewing Paul McCartney on SNL in which the line comes up as part of the closing joke: http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/the-chris-farley-show-mccartney/2868143?snl=1

I am pretty sure Paul wasn’t thinking about restaurant management when he wrote the line, but that doesn’t mean it can’t apply.  If you want love, you need to give love.  The beauty is, when put it in this context, you realize YOU are responsible for determining what you will receive.  In reality, the amount you receive can be almost limitless as long as you are willing to take the responsibility to give that much to others.  It’s no different in management than in life.  Don’t let the word love throw you.  In a business context, it’s not necessary to be loved to be effective.  You can substitute the word respect and the meaning works just the same.  In either context, the leader needs to accept the personal responsibility that their actions determine their outcomes.

Leadership is about inspiring people to follow you.  To me, this then becomes about giving.  Giving respect, giving feedback, giving context, giving advice, giving support.  The leader determines what kinds of results they will get from their people by how much they give – end of story.

I know there are some pretty successful people out there whose approach is to take as much as they can while giving as little as possible.  There are leaders out there who manage through fear and intimidation.  You have all heard the line: “it’s better to be feared than to be loved.”  This might work for some, but I just don’t see it working on a large scale.  When the answer is as simple as: the more you give, the more you get, why would anyone want to be an asshole?

Here is a TED talk by Wharton Professor Adam Grant where he explains the work he presented in his book Give and Take: https://www.ted.com/talks/adam_grant_are_you_a_giver_or_a_taker/up-next.  Adam did research attempted to define the impact of what he calls “givers and takers” in the workplace.  His research found that organizations with a culture of helping, sharing and giving, performed better in every metric.

This week, get out there and see how much respect, love & support you can give to your team.  I am pretty sure, you will get back what you give in equal measure.  Have a great week!

Happy Monday & happy belated Pride to all who celebrated yesterday!  In honor of Pride, I chose today’s quote from the inimitable Cherilyn Sarkisian – better known to the world as CHER!  This quote is in some ways a variation on the Jeff Bezos quote from a few weeks ago about not fearing critics https://restaurantlifer.com/2017/05/29/go-make-a-ruckus/. 

While similar sentiments, I think there is one important distinction.  Bezos spoke to me primarily about naysayers.  Cher speaks to me more about the toughest critic of all: oneself.  As much as the world may try, the only one who can really make you feel foolish is yourself.  In order to do great things, or to be “great,” you have to be ready to face down the boundaries we place on ourselves.  We have to try to operate with enough confidence and belief in ourselves to not worry about getting out of our comfort zone.  It takes a lot of courage to test the boundaries of where we are comfortable.  It is at this margin, where the pursuit of greatness begins.  If you can defeat this fear of looking foolish, you can do amazing things.

Tony Robbins says the something similar in even more direct terms – “life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”  Get out there this week, and figure out what you would do differently if you didn’t have to worry about feeling foolish.   If you find something, give it a try!  I’ll be really happy to see you on your way to achieving greatness!   Let me know how it goes.

Speaking of feeling foolish – I just worked Jeff Bezos and Cher into the same post on a management blog!

 

Good morning all & happy Monday!  Today’s quote is from Eric Schmidt, Chairman of Google’s parent company Alphabet.  This quote comes from a podcast he did recently with Reid Hoffman, the founder of Linkedin.  You can hear their full conversation here: https://www.entrepreneur.com/topic/masters-of-scale

In their conversation Eric outlined his belief that making quick decisions and acting fast is essential to the success of any company.  Eric told a fascinating story about how he internalized this lesson in stark terms while taking flying lessons.  When learning to fly, the instructors would constantly tell the students: “decide, decide, decide.”  While flying, deciding is a matter of life or death.  Indecision can lead to catastrophe.  The need to make a decision, and deal with the consequences is very clear from the cockpit of a plane.

In General Stanley McChrystal’s book: Team of Teams he tells a story from 1978 of United Flight 173 which crashed after it ran out of fuel.  The experienced flight crew circled the Portland airport assessing their manuals & debating possible solutions to a relatively minor problem.  As a group, and in conjunction with air traffic control, they calmly discussed the solution for over an hour.  During this time, they lost track of a more pressing variable: fuel level.

Interestingly, Eric first started flying on the advice of a friend who recommended he find a hobby that allowed him to completely detach from work.  Flying certainly fit the bill.  There wasn’t a whole lot of time to think about work problems while in the sky making life & death decisions.

Eric has been able to take this message and put it to work for one of the world’s largest companies.  Having an organization prioritized on quick decision making has allowed Google to continually innovate as it has grown to its’ immense size.

In organizations of any size, it is very easy to get caught up in “paralysis by analysis.” Every decision a group or team makes has consequences and possible negative outcomes.  The key is to accept the inherent risk in making a decision and move forward.  The benefit of moving quickly will outweigh the negative of any mistakes you make.

This way of thinking does seem somewhat counterintuitive.  How many times have you heard the negative expression “ready, shoot, aim?”  Or, heard it said that someone “leads with their gut?”  Quick decision making is often associated with recklessness.  I think the key message here is not a statement about your decision-making process, but instead about the need to conduct your process quickly.  By all means do the research, get a wide range of opinions, test on a small scale, etc.  But, at the end of the of a quick process – make a call.  The limbo of being stuck is much more detrimental to the team than the consequences of a wrong decision.

As always, I am a firm believer that wisdom like this is beneficial to managers at all levels of an organization.  All of us need to do our part to outline what decisions need to be made and then be ready to make them quickly.

Have a great week –  and remember – “decide, decide, decide!”

Here is a link to Stanley McChrystal’s book: https://www.amazon.com/Team-Teams-Rules-Engagement-Complex/dp/1591847486/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497873389&sr=8-1&keywords=team+of+teams

Good morning everyone!  Happy Monday!  Today’s quote is by the comedic genius John Cleese.  If you haven’t had a good laugh in a while, please stop reading this right now and go watch A Fish Called Wanda.  I love this quote because it teaches us that creativity it not something people are either born with or without.  Rather, creativity is a skill that people need to develop.

Today more than ever, I would argue that creativity might be the most important skill.  With the rise of the internet, all of the information at the world is instantly at our fingertips.  Every story in history can be accessed and researched in seconds.  Every math problem can be calculated with the assist of a computer.  The key skill is knowing what to do with all of this information, and that takes creativity.

Before we go further, I think it is important to discuss what creativity is.  Most of us think of creativity as having to do with the arts.  Painting, theater, film, music are all the traditional realms of creativity.  I have the pleasure of being married to a woman who made her living as an artist in the world of Broadway theatre.  Because of her career, I have had the pleasure to befriend some truly exceptional creative talents.  Watching people like this, who come by creativity so naturally is very inspiring.  At the same time, it can be very intimidating.

I used to think of myself as “a business guy,” not a “creative,” or an “artist.” Now I think the distinction has much less meaning.   Every business and industry now is the realm of the creative.  The people who succeed today, and will succeed in the future will be those who can think creatively to solve problems and discover new opportunities.  Look at the cult of the chef that has developed over the last 10 years.  This didn’t happen because of all of these chef’s talent for executing classic recipes from a book.  This happened because they expressed their creative talents, and were able to train a willing audience to appreciate their art.

I feel it is very important for all of us to develop and use our creativity in order to thrive at work.  In business, it is the creative solution that will best solve the problem, and open up the opportunities.    The pace of change in society is happening too quickly for us to assume that the standard and time -tested solution will be the best option.  Thinking outside of the box and in a creative fashion is the only way to win.

But, how do you develop your creative capacity?  Here is a link to an excerpt of the speech where John Cleese talks about his concept: https://www.brainpickings.org/2012/04/12/john-cleese-on-creativity-1991/ and here is the full speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EMj_CFPHYc.  Here is Inc article discussing the same theme: https://www.fastcompany.com/3024458/why-your-creativity-needs-boundaries-to-thrive.

My main advice is to be well rounded.  I believe very much in finding your passion in life, and in work, and directing almost all of your efforts towards advancing this goal.  However, I did say almost.  The remainder of your time should be spent enjoying completely unrelated hobbies and skills, and using your brain in a different way.  Spending time studying a language, or reading science fiction, or learning to garden are not things that take away from developing a career in business.  When looked at the right way, they can actually be the key to succeeding in business.

We all have tremendous creative potential.  Accept this fact, develop this muscle, and see what happens!  Have a great week!